I'm really jaded when it comes to new applications and services. Where many people greet new web services with a spark of excitement, I mostly greet them with a yawn.

Streampad is different. Remember that kid in high school who was a little odd, unconventional and unpopular? She went to college, got cool and ended up doing something amazing. The next time you saw her, she'd totally changed. She'd dropped the baby fat, found her wit and, in the process, become a whole lot cooler than you.

If that girl from high school were a media player, she'd be Streampad; A web based mp3 tool being developed independently by Dan Kantor, a former del.icio.us developer who recently left Yahoo! to work on his baby full time.

It's AJAX/Flash based, so there's nothing to install. Searchable, playlistable tunes culled from the web, your library or an online locker, right in your browser. Have you ever wanted to have any mp3 blog at your fingertips? Now you do.

Streampad's interface is pretty, clean and very functional. The words "learning curve" don't even enter into the picture. It simply has to be tried to be believed.